Dedicated to the proposition that intellectual acuity is not a prerequisite to political discourse

Thursday, September 29, 2011

David Ramadan – Unfit for Public Office

Let me
begin by saying I supported David Ramadan. Early on, when he was
appointed to the George Mason University Board of Visitors, I was among the
first to congratulate him. When he
was the subject of protests by wing nut anti-Muslims, I was among the first to
defend him.

But
something happened somewhere along the campaign trail, and that something is
deeply troubling. Now Nixonesque in his
no-holds-barred approach to campaigning and countering dissent, Ramadan has
proven my support woefully misplaced.

From the
beginning, his campaign has been odd. At
times, he defended his inflammatory support of the mosque at Ground Zero, and at
times he attempted to explain it away.
At times, he defended his Muslim beliefs, and at times he stressed a
Christian background. When criticized
for his overcompensation in these areas and others, he angrily confronted his
detractors. What really seems to have
revealed more fatal character flaws, however, was his contentious primary battle
with Jo-Ann Chase. http://lloydtheidiot.blogspot.com/2011/08/86-87th.html

Ramadan
never publicly denied his involvement in an epic smear campaign against Chase,
digging up very personal items from Jo-Ann’s past including her medical history
and family problems. Quite the opposite,
he used that information himself in one of his many, many large glossy mailers
in which he publicly lambasted Jo-Ann on a private child custody issue. It was disgusting, and certainly unbecoming anyone
seeking public office. His aggressive
tactics and vitriol didn’t end there. When
later challenged on his residency, he whined that Jo-Ann was “using the
tactics of third world despots to try to intimidate me.”

Ramadan recently
tried some intimidation tactics of his own.
In an attempt to silence an inconsequential blogger, he revealed the
bloggers identity to a third party whom he believed had some financial control over
the blogger, and requested the third party take action against the blogger. When confronted by the blogger about it, he neither
told the truth nor apologized. In fact, the
next day, he had the nerve to go back to the third party and ask assistance
again.

The only
success Ramadan had with this tactic, as well as the others described above, is
to prove clearly that he is not a man to be trusted or tolerated. Having taken such extreme measures in a campaign
for a $17,000 a year job; imagine what he would do once in office and vested
with more power. It’s simply not a risk
we can afford to take.

As I’ve
said before, this 87th HOD race has been a disaster for the Republicans,
having put forth two completely unfit candidates to choose from. The only way it could get worse is if one
of them were elected.